For an all-too-brief period, between 1994 and 1996, New Orleans was well represented in the smooth jazz market by radio station KLJZ. Featuring a playlist of roughly 500 of the best smooth jazz tunes of the past thirty years, KLJZ had a small but fanatically dedicated following. Rhino, a New Orleans area quintet, produces a smooth jazz sound that would have fit perfectly into the station’s format. Most of the 13 cuts on this CD could have qualified for airplay. Adjectives like “mellow,” “refined,” “sweet,” “delicate” and others come to mind when trying to define the Rhino sound. The group consists of Mike Rihner on keyboards, Mark Mahaffey on guitar, Reggie Murray on saxes and akai ewi, Doug Waguespack on bass and James Cabiran on drums. Their style is disciplined and tightly controlled, yet smooth and free-flowing when it needs to be. Murray’s solos on the various types of saxes are real standouts, but everyone excels on this recording. Rihner and Mahaffey also get to cut loose on some kickin’ licks, backed by Cabiran’s steady, confident backbeat. Some of the cuts sound like early Rippingtons recordings, but they are all original compositions and their collective sound defies comparison with any other smooth jazz groups on the scene today. The title track is a “Rendering,” all right, given the various definitions in Webster’s New World Dictionary. Among those definitions are “performance,” “giving in return” and “submitting”—all very apropos in this instance. Every track is in the very good to excellent range and it doesn’t get any better than that! A fine addition to any smooth jazz collection.